Her Sword of Secrets
by Jingkura
Summary: Linali Hong is sent to assist the Jedi and the Republic with the war. She is from the Ken Order or non jedi warriors in Dathomir and is ruthless with sword skills like no other. However, what lurks with her secrets? What are her secrets? What about those black tattoos on her body? why do her eyes turn white with red dots when she's mad? How many clones will fall for her?
1. Chapter 1

" Master do I have to do this?"

" I'm sorry Linali...I don't want to have you do this either but the elders command me to do this."

The echoing foot steps of a girl could be heard ringing throughout the vast jedi temple. A girl with long brown hair tied into two braids walked silently. She had almond chocolate brown eyes and pale skin. Her thin frail looking body was covered with a long black dress that reached to her ankles to reveal black combat boots. She reached over to two big doors and took a breath before knocking.

" Is this Linali Hong?"

" Yes I am here to see the Council."

The doors creaked open with a mighty bang and revealed the esteemed jedi council. They all stared at her with straight eyes and none moved a muscle. The only friendly looking face belonged to an orange skinned girl with dark blue eyes. Based on her lekku, she was hmmmm Togrutan? Anyway, she walked to the middle and waited for someone to speak.

A green ancient looking creature answered her wish," What brings you here? Please state your business."

This was it...if she screwed up...she would be in trouble with the elder's council. She hesitated before answering," I am Linali Hong and I am a Captain of the Ken Order from Northern Dathomir. You're warfare has traveled to our land and the Separatists have joined alliances with our enemy the Choshu. A while ago, we have struck a deal that we would help each other with this situation. The Ken order has sent me to assist you. I am here to honor that deal and I hope we can work together and make good progress."

Now a bald dark skinned man replied," Yes now I remember. We have preparations already ready for you. I also hope that we can all get along. Now please wait here and someone will get you introduced."

Linali nodded. She wasn't very trusting of the Jedi but she would do anything her Master told her to. She looked around and saw that there were few women. She had been the only woman in her council back home.

She continued looking around and saw Master Kenobi. He had been good friends with Master Jushiro and she had met him only once when she was a little girl still clinging to to her master's robes. A feeling of longing hit her and she wished she was back at her Master's estate drinking tea and talking.

" Come this way please Ms. Hong."

Her thoughts were cut short when a green skinned girl with black freckle like diamonds scattered across her nose, walked next to her. She wore a long black dress and had her hair covered with a heavy piece of fabric. There was another council member that appeared to be in the same species group as her. She had a warm smile and gentle eyes as she said," Hello, my name's Barriss Offee. I am to show you around. May I ask of your name?"

Linali hesitantly replied," I'm Linali. It's nice to meet you."

She accompanied her greeting with a low bow.

" _Linali, when you meet any of the jedi, bow as low as you can. You must respect them like you resect you team members and and me. "_

" _But, Master Ukitake, the lowest bow is the deepest sign of respect. It seems more appropriate to use them for the elders."_

" _Trust me Linali. Make a good impression on them and your mission will be easier for you. It was also make me worry less of you. Do you want me to worry?"_

" _No Master. I understand. I shall not fail you"_

" _I know you won't. You never have failed me ever Lin. Make sure to come back to me alive."_

She remembered the last words they had exchanged together. It had been only three days but she missed her master gravely. They started off walking out of the long corridors and out of the temple.

" You shall be staying with the Clones in the Clones Barracks. They're all men but don't worry; they don't bite."

Linali nodded as she continued walking behind her. They passed several building; each massive in height. They were all either white or a slate grey and seemed identical. There were clones with their shining white armor walking all over the place. Jedi conversed to one another and the whole place was alive with activity. The humming of engines and machines joined in to create a symphony of productivity with the sounds of speeders. The ground was insanely clean and if Lin had dropped some dumplings on the ground, she could probably pick it right up and eat it without a second thought. They continued walking without a word until they went into a large building with a sign that said ,barracks". This was probably where she would be staying. They walked into its huge doors and if she thought there were a lot of clones outside….she was definitely wrong. There were thousands of clones all over the place. All of them had the same faces though. Her master had taught her about how they genetically engineered them to have the same faces. Her eyes wandered all over the place.

Barris stopped occasionally while telling her where everything was," This is the Mess Hall, the bathrooms, rec room, laundry room, waste room…."

The list went on. They walked on for what seemed like an eternity until they reached a pair of automatic sliding doors. For the first time she turned around and said," This is where you will be sleeping. Are you ready?"

Linaly gave a single nod and Barris pushed a button causing the doors to slide open. Men sat in bunks and were doing all sorts of things from arm wrestling to playing cars. When everyone saw her, they all stopped what they were doing and stood up straight saluting her. Linali felt slightly nervous with all those eyes on her. She must have looked so different from what they were used to seeing. She...was average looking...and human. Most of the people they must have interacted with were of different species.

She said," At ease men. I have an announcement to make.", she gestured to Lin," This is Linali Hong and she will be working with us. Please treat her with respect and friendship. She will be staying in the same barracks as you so also respect that she is a female and that harassment is not acceptable. She is your equal and is neither above or below you. Understood?"

" Yes Sir!" All clones shouted in unison.

Barriss turned back to Linali and said," I shall be going now but if you have any questions or problems, please come to me. Good luck and it was nice to meet you."

She smiled one last time before leaving the room. Suddenly a wave of awkwardness washed over her. She had no idea where she was, who was surrounding her, and what she was supposed to do. She was an outsider who was never meant to be here. She longed to be in her old room surrounded by the scent of tatami wood in her Master's estate. To see her squad and her friends. Someone put a hand on her shoulder which caused her to whip her head around.

" Hey what's your name again? Sorry I forgot. The name's Tup."

Behind her was a clone with black hair pulled into a bun. He had a tattoo of a tear drop underneath his eyes. She regained her composure and replied," I-I'm Linali Hong."

He smiled and said," Ah Linali thats gotta nice ring to it. You go by anything else?"

She nodded," My friends call me Lin. You can too if you'd like."

" Alright then Lin. I think I like Linny better. You k' with that?"

She nodded flustered. Her eyes wandered around hoping that someone would rescue her from this ummmm interesting situation. Her wish came true.

" Tup you ugly bastard, stop teasing her. If ya continue you're gonna have one ugly face shaped bruise for all the ladies to see."

The voice came from a clone walking towards them. He had a tatoo on his head with the Republic logo on it.

Tup released his hand on her and said defensively," I'm just trying to make her feel welcome Jesse! I don't think you could do a better job."

Tattoo face retorted," Well actually, I think you're scaring the poor sense out of her."

The two argued on for a while until someone grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the mess.

" What's going on?" she cried out

" Let's go to the Mess."


	2. Chapter 2

" Where are we going?!"

She looked up to see a man with yellow armor. He had a friendly face and a straight horizontal goatee on his chin. Instead of the blue markings that the 501st had, he had a honey yellow color.

He stopped and looked at her," Sorry 'bout that. It just looked like you needed some space amidst the chaos. I'm Waxer. I'm part of the Ghost Company but I was just visiting a few friends here. If I was correct, you're name is Linalay?"

She smile slightly and replied," Close. I'm Linali but you can call me Lin since that's a bit easier to memorize. Nice to meet you."

He laughed before saying," Well I never have been good with names so….nice to meet you Lin. Why don't we go to the Mess Hall and you can meet the others."

" That sounds nice."

" Hey guys say hi to the new girl!"

Waxer had enthusiastically bounded to his supposed " table" and started speaking immediately. There were men all over the place and the mess hall was huge! Back home, teams ate separately in small rooms. It was so spacious here. Linali was so busy gawking that she didn't notice the amount of eyes on her. When she finally looked back she was a bit taken aback.

It was just like when she walked into her barracks.

She looked over at Waxer for some help and luckily, he took the sign. He ushered her over to an empty spot and sat her down. Some people had stopped looking and were far more interested in their lunches but some smiled awkwardly to her. All she could do was smile slightly to them.

One snickered and said," You finally found a girlfriend Waxer? Damn she's one fine b-"

" Shut up Hardcase. Your future girlfriend will be the end of a blaster barrel if you continue this bull shit."

Waxer was extremely quick to answer. He laughed off his retort with a smirk and arose a wave of laughter from the others at the table. Lin wanted to smile but kept her face as stoic as possible. In the Ken Order also known as Roshigumi, she had been known to have been able to keep a straight face for hours. After the " Blight", she didn't have a choice. So many people had died that everyone looked the same with a straight solemn face. Everyone else had not suffered the worst of the Blight so they often mocked her naming her " Captain Stoneface".

" Ayyy you there. The one with long hair. You have a name or is your name just numbers like ours?"

Another wave of laughter rose again and died before she meekly whispered," I'm Linali."

" Aww you're so quiet and shy. Speak a bit louder won't ya dear?"

" I-I'm Linali Hong."

" See that wasn't so hard! The name's Boil. Waxer over there is my best buddy. I nearly thought he found a girl. Looks like I haven't lost that bet yet."

" Shut up."

Waxer and Boil walked Lin through on how to get " grub" in the food line. The food looked gray and was tasteless. Suddenly she longed for the pure white rice and pickled cucumbers that she used to eat. She had taken them for granted and thought of them as plain only a few days ago. Had she really missed the wonderful taste they held? She silently ate as the clones continued to talk noisily amongst themselves. Suddenly she heard the doors slide open and in walked the orange togrutan girl from before. She wore a huge smile on her lips and walked in with another older man with a scar running down his eye. Both were apparently jedi from their weapons; " lightsabers" as her master had told her. They both grabbed their food and plunked their trays next to her.

The togrutan looked at her closely in the face and chirped," Hey you're the girl from the meeting room! Linali am I correct?"

" Yes. Your name is?"

" Ahsoka Tano. Skyguy over there is Anakin."

" Skyguy?"

" That's annoying nickname. You'll know once you see him fly a starfighter."

" Snips stop calling me Skyguy!"

They bantered for a little bit longer. They reminded her of Meiko and Hoshi. She mentally face palmed herself. Her thoughts about home really had to stop. They just seemed to make her more glum than she already was. Ashoka finally turned back to her and said," Sorry about that. Anyway, we weren't really given the true details about the situation but, why are you here again?"

" Well this is going to be a long story…"

Everyone suddenly turned towards her and Ahsoka said." Don't worry Linali. We can stay here for hours listening to stories. With all the soldiers here..let's say that we do that a lot…"

She nodded and continued," I come from northern Dathomir and yes before you ask; there are witches there but only in the Southern Part. The North is a much nicer place which is free with the witches. The witches aren't really too fond of us because our ancestors apparently caused a war between them and us humans. I am part of the Roshigumi which a military organization that keeps the peace between us. However, the Chosun is our opposing group which because of dark ambitions, chose to side with the witches. They have all joined alliances with the separatist and now…," she paused for a second with her face dark," they want to take over all of Northern Dathomir. I was drafted amongst all the other Roshigumi captains to help rid the Separatist. So pretty much, I am to your disposal."

Who knows what is to come? Darkness or light...love is stopped by a barrier forever.


	3. Chapter 3

_Dear Master,_

 _It's been four days since I've first arrived. Coruscant is so different than what I imagined it to be. The people here are very nice and I have already made friends. However, the food is worst than the people as we are served gray lumpy soups that resemble the porridge you make every time you attempt to cook. I must say that your porridge taste better as it has a burnt taste while this has no taste. It is like I am eating air with a lumpy texture. I long for a bowl of rice now. Maybe my wish will come true if we can deal with the other matters they have on other planets before they can deal with our issue. I do not know where I can train and I have yet to ask. These days have very busy. I keep on getting lost in the buildings and I feel as embarrassed and shy as I was when I first entered the Roshigumi headquarters. Hopefully things will get better and I can be more familiar. Maybe I will even learn to like the food here._

 _From,_

 _Hong Linali_

Lin closed the seal of the envelope with a lick of her tongue. She vaguely remembered that the mail slot was next to the mess hall and thought," I'll take the letter there when I go get lunch." In the past few days, she had taken care of all official business and was finally able to settle down. She wanted to train though. To hear the slicing sound of her sword cutting through the air and the feel of cold metal. Lowering her hand to her waist, she felt the black lacquer of her sword sheath and the groves where gold designs were embedded. There was also the feel of a red silky ribbon tied tightly around it. What was tied to her waist was the only thing she lived for other than her master. Linali was currently the only one in the barracks as all the other men had gone who knows where. Her head turned to the door when she head the whooshing sound of the door being slided open.

A familiar voice said," Hey Linny!"

The only person who called her Linny was Tup. He was covered in sweat but had a victorious grin on his face. His whole body just screamed," I came from training and I'm sweaty from winning against somebody." She knew it too well.

She smiled lightly and asked," Did you come from training?"

His shocked face was enough," Um Yes. How did you know? Wait never mind...you're a captain so you should know."

She nodded and asked," May I ask where you train? Like is there a place designated for practice?"

" Yes would you like me to show you?"

She nodded eagerly. This was her chance to finally get some practice. After days of not doing anything active, she was growing mentally restless. He quickly wiped of some sweat with a towel and the sweat on his tear shaped tattoo glimmered like a real tear. They started out down the hallway leading to the mess hall but turned into an unfamiliar corridor. She encountered some more sweaty clones chatting noisily and a few waved to Tup. Again, she felt quite alien here as she was also used to bowing to her superiors and having people bow to her; in which she responded with an acknowledging nod. He walked through a set of automatic sliding doors that resembled the Mess Hall's doors. Inside was a ocean of clones and Jedi training. Some were concentrated like there was no tomorrow. Others socialized and exchanged jokes.

" Hi Lin! I'm so glad you could finally join us for training!"

Ashoka was waving energetically from a bench with a water bottle in the other hand. A blue skinned twi'lek nodded at her. After exchanging a glance with Tup, she tentatively stepped towards them. Ashoka got up and walked towards her.

" Hey Lin! You here to train?"

" Um yes."

" Alright then! What do you want to do? Cardio? Stealth? Sparring?"

" Um sparring seems nice."

" Alright good choice! You can spar with me but...um I'm not so sure if my lightsaber can spar with your umm…"

" Katana."

" Ah yes katana. I think my lightsaber will cut through it."

Lin smirked and replied," Our katanas are designed to withstand everything including jedi lightsabers. We didn't want to take chances of having our swords break when holding off foreigners."

" Alright then. Let's start!"

* * *

Ashoka led Lin through a sea of clones and jedi. There was a strange structure with glass walls. It looked like a mini arena surrounded with walls to protect the people watching outside. There was a pad of buttons attached to the wall and Ashoka pushed a few of them and the walls suddenly disappeared. " Wow. I haven't seen anything like that." she thought.

They both walked inside and Ashoka explained," Alright the rules are simple. We just spar any way you want. The one who manages to disarm their opponent is the one who wins. Winner gets loser's desert."

" Alright." she replied while thinking," Honestly the dessert tastes like water so that's no problem for me. However, I won't lose to a jedi."

Her face darkened as she took her stance against Ashoka. Ashoka cocked her head. Linali's stance was quite strange. Her sword was still stuck inside its sheath and she put her hand on it grabbing the hilt. The group stood motionless; both waiting for the other to strike. By that time a small group of onlookers had gathered. Everyone was talking about the new girl and they were all rather curious to find out what skills she had.

Linali smirked to herself. They probably thought she was a little sissy and that Ashoka could take her down with no sweat. " I've spent years practicing day and night on this technique. It has never failed me and it never will."

Ashoka thought to herself," Come one! Why isn't she moving?! She's probably waiting for me to make a move. Well, no matter since this is gonna be a piece of cake. The girl looks so frail and skinny that she can stand to eat a bit more than she does."

Ashoka let out a battle cry and lunged at her. Instead of flinching back like she thought she would, Lin continued to stand there staring boredly at her. " Is she trying to show off or something?" Ashoka pondered while running.

However, Linali was doing the quite opposite. She was known in the Roshigumi for her ability to observe her opponent's skill in the middle of battle. Observing helped her decide her approach. She was never known to be predictable. Captain Hong would go aggressive with one, than gentle yet fast with another. That was her strength and many other's weaknesses. Suddenly, when Ashoka was in earshot of Lin, Lin swung her sword at her and blocked Ashoka's strike. She pulled with such force that Ashoka grunted in pain as the shock travels mercilessly down her arm. She decided to swing again only to have Lin block it.

This was how it went " back and forward". Ashoka would swing and lunge while Lin took defensive and blocked. However, she did not seem to be in a desperate position. Her gaze traveled up to Lin's eyes. She knowticed that there was something off about her right eye.

Ahsoka gasped," Her eye's changed!" The normally wooden brown eyes had morphed into blood red. Surrounding the pupil were three black dots joined by a circle. They spun slowly in a circle. It seemed to be mesmerizing and she couldn't help but stare.

This made Ashoka lose focus and suddenly her vision blurred. However the feel of cold metal on her neck made her attention snap back. There were the cool metal of Lin's blade on her neck and the black haired wielder stood behind her with her hands on Ashoka's shoulder. She had cornered her.

Lin said coolly," I guess I won this round."

Ashoka stammered," H-h-how did y-y-y-you do that? I didn't even see you!"

Lin sheathed back her sword in one smooth motion and said nothing. She turned her back towards her and merely just said," The only thing I will tell you is that attack is meant purely to kill. If we had been truly fighting, you would be dead right now. It is called Muon Satsujin."

With that she pushed her way out of the observing crowd leaving Ashoka still standing with her mouth agape.

" Eh Snips, looks like newbie beat you." taunted Skywalker waking up next to her.

" S-She h-her eye. There is something weird with her eye!" she stammered

Skywalker put an arm around her and said," Now now Snips. I understand you lost but that doesn't mean you have to go round blabbing some nonsensical nonsense."

" You don't understand Master! Her eye turned red! She mentioned something about Muon Satsujin. I'll go ask Fives to help me search it up."

She tore his arm off her shoulder and ran out of the practice room. Master Aayla was still in the room however. She walked over to Skywalker and mumbled," Looks like she's not to happy about losing. Please keep an eye on her Skywalker."

He mentally groaned and replied," Of course. She never likes losing."

He ran out after her leaving the blue skinned twi'lek shaking her head. Student after Master.

* * *

Linali walked back to the barracks. Her vision in the right eye was starting to blur already.

She thought," Ugh It's happening again?!"

Her walke speeded up to a run and she ran to her bunk. She covered her eye with a hand and already felt the warm sticky flood flowing onto her fingertips.

" Dammit!" she whispered angrily.

Sorting through her bags she hastily pulled out a white silk cloth and held it against her eye. " I can't believe that it's not healed yet!" she thought angrily.

Currently she was the only one in the room. Suddenly Tup's voice came out," Hey Linny I just saw you beat the crap out of Commander Tano. Dang girl you're tougher than you loo-"

He stopped short when he saw her hunched over on her bottom bunk with a white cloth bundled against her right eye. The white was stained with little bloomed flowers of blood. She looked up silently and stared at him. Tup's eyes widened. He gawked.

" Lin is your eye bleeding?! We need to get a medic." he yelled

He was about to bolt out before her cold hand shot out to grab his. She said," No that isn't necessary! This is normal. The bleeding will stop soon enough. It's my fault that I used it and didn't cover it with the eye patch."

She lowered the bloody cloth to reveal her eyes. They were red and had three black drops surrounding the pupil. Blood seeped out of the eye and it looked like she was crying blood tears.

Tup nodded and sat down on the bunk next to her. The two remained silent as she wiped the blood off her face. She sighed and went through a bag while pulling out a crisp white eye patch. Tying the patch across her face she let out another sigh.

" Don't tell anyone about this. If my master finds out, he'll worry himself so much that the old man can't sleep."

" Kay but seriously...what was that?"

" It's called a Sharingan. It's a genetic mutation to an eye that allows the user to see their opponents muscle movement. That allows to us to predict one's movements. I injured my eye a while back and I was on strict orders to not use it so I could let it heal. Guess I should have listened."

" Yup. Is there anything I can do though."

She smiled and pulled her finger up to her mouth to make a "shhh" motion. He laughed.

" Come on. Let's get dinner."


End file.
